Director: Guillermo del Toro
Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro & Kim Morgan
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen, David Strathairn
Country: United States, Mexico, Canada
Running Time: 150/159 minutes
Year: 2021
Noir fatalism has rarely been so alluring as in this vision of the world as a soul-sick carnival of corruption. Putting his own luxuriantly stylized spin on the classic hard-boiled novel by William Lindsay Gresham, master fabulist Guillermo del Toro conjures a sordid, seductive portrait of America on the cusp of World War II. The film follows Stan Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), a roustabout in a traveling sideshow who uses charm and deception to become a phony mentalist preying on the rich and powerful—but at what cost? Brought to life by an all-star cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, and Rooney Mara, and nominated for four Oscars (including Best Picture), Nightmare Alley is a haunting descent into the illusory abyss of the American dream.
When I heard Criterion were releasing Nightmare Alley, and I saw the distinctive black and white cover, I thought it would be the 1947 Edmund Goulding noir. Adapted from what is considered one of the great American novels by William Lindsay Gresham, it is a great film worth anyone’s time. However, surprise! This is the Guillermo del Toro and Kim Morgan version, first released in 2021.
A director’s cut, no less. In black and white. Had anyone asked for a Director’s Cut of Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley: Vision in Darkness and Light?
I adore this director’s work and he’s a respected favourite of the average film nerd. Yet his films usually arrive to slightly bemused and muted receptions. Take Frankenstein at the moment. And when Nightmare Alley arrived, no-one was surprised -the original novel and film are deep in the American psyche- but the consensus was, meh. Not as distinct as the ’47 model.
As usually happens (see also Crimson Peak), the film has matured beautifully. Del Toro always wanted to make it in black and white and he cleverly filmed it in such a way it would convert well. Lots and lots of red, which makes for a deep, inky contrast in mono. He wanted to do Shape Of Water in black and white too, but didn’t have the resources to prep the production so he could convert it later. I feel that’s a loss, but it is at least reassuring that this isn’t a fad. No risk of a Bleached Box-set cash-in of all his movies on the way.
This is visibly a huge effort. A rich cacophony of visual story telling (Bradley Cooper doesn’t speak for about 20 minutes). Cooper is perfectly cast as a clean-cut everyman with shadows behind and ahead of him in this twisted view of the American dream.
The carny crowd is full of wonderful characters. Willem Dafoe, Ron Perlman, Toni Collette and David Strathairn all give broad and generous performances. When Cooper will inevitably strain your sympathy, the honesty of these tricksters will carry the story. Rooney Mara comes to the fore, with a softer edge than some of her previous roles. Later, Cate Blanchett is wonderful as the most obvious villain. That’s a stretch though. Cooper is his own protagonist, but in any case his interplay with Blanchett is fabulous. Who is trapping who? Femme Fatale with blonde waves to match Veronica Lake or Barbara Stanwyck.
Ultimately, this is Del Toro’s film and is perfect material for his curiosity cabinet. Nightmare Alley has an embarrassment of technique. Incredibly confident and accomplished, it is a worthy version of the original and Del Toro and Kim Morgan’s take on the novel elegantly extends the simple narrative without losing the beautiful symmetry. Or the humanity. Maybe it’s a slightly sentimental thread that softens the box office punch, but his films always benefit from a little investment. Especially this one.
When I first saw Nightmare Alley I loved it, but felt the ending wasn’t as effectively brutal as the 1947 take. Maybe it’s the extra 10 minutes allowing the narrative to breathe a little more, but it just worked this time. The threads of the film dovetail around Bradley Cooper’s performance perfectly, cementing Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley as the definitive modern Noir.
VIDEO
When I concluded, “definitive modern Noir”, I do mean the slightly longer, black and white Director’s Cut. It’s phenomenal. I can’t fairly review the colour version in 4K now; the detail is there, the colours and texture you would expect (especially red). But it’s rather flat compared to the mono. While this is an extraordinary effort from Criterion, I don’t think I’ll bother watching the colour version again.
The rich shadows bring the film visually to life. The contrast is a beautiful thing, allowing Nightmare Alley to positively drip pure Noir. There’s a shot at night of the carnival in the distance, with a storm gathering in the sky above. It’s just gorgeous.
Black and white enhances such detail, the luxury of the Award-winning production really shines. If you were indifferent to the colour version, this feels more whole and more ambitious. The lighting alone is a revelation.
EXTRAS
The package is one of Criterion’s best for a while. Both versions. Both formats. It’s a reminder of their old reputation, when they were the only boutique label worth a damn. A respectful, enthusiastic embrace of any kind of film, from the perspective of a true movie nerd. And Del Toro of course is all over the extras; a fantastic commentary, interviews, a conversation with Cooper and a thorough documentary that is a delight.
- 4K digital master of **Nightmare Alley: Vision in Darkness and Light** (2025), a new 159-minute, black-and-white extended director’s cut, supervised by director Guillermo del Toro, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- 4K digital master of the theatrical version of the film, with Dolby Atmos soundtrack
- Two 4K UHD discs of the films presented in **Dolby Vision HDR** and two Blu-rays with the films and special features
- New audio commentary on the extended director’s cut featuring del Toro
- New documentary on the film’s performances, visual language, costume and production design, and score
- New conversation between del Toro and actor and producer Bradley Cooper
- New conversation between del Toro and co-screenwriter Kim Morgan
- Trailers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
- PLUS: An essay by crime-fiction and true-crime expert Sarah Weinman
